Many retired elite runners have found meaningful ways to give back to the sport to which they gave so much of themselves.

One such runner is Australian marathoner Rob de Castella.

Known as a fierce competitor who never gave an inch to anyone, Rob raced marathons so hard that he often needed several months after a marathon to fully recover and be ready to race again.

Rob trained in almost exactly the same way under the same coach for the best part of 15 years. His training system is a model for many Australian runners and coaches today.

However, Rob is best known these days for his work with the Indigenous Marathon Project, a program that trains indigenous Australians (or “aborigines”) for races around Australia and ultimately the New York City Marathon.

A few of the topics we discussed included:

The training program that took Rob to World Championship medals and world records in the marathon